Human Services Association

Pasitos School Readiness Program
The purpose of this grant is to promote the idea of school readiness by creating centers and programs that offer an array of services, including early care and education, health and social services, parenting education and support. Programs will be responsive to local needs and will contain elements to improve schools' readiness for children.  The target population for this program are the service areas of the City of Huntington Park (90255) and South Gate (90280) located in SPA 7. The highly populated cities with a large immigrant population of educationally and economically disadvantaged families. 93.5% of the population is Latino, 60% of the population is monolingual Spanish. 15.7 % of the targeted population are children 0-4 years of age, where only 2% of the children currently receive some form of school readiness services, 43.1% of the population did not complete high school. The literacy level in this area is the lowest in all of Los Angeles County according to the Los Angeles Unified School District Statistics. 30% of parents utilize unlicensed childcare workers to care for their children. There are 2,955 early care and education slots available for 17,794 children ages 0-4. Over 90% of the children participate in reduced lunch programs. 50% of the families have no form of transportation. There are 3 program sites located in South Gate (2) and Huntington Park (1).  All School Readiness grants are 48 months in length across 5 fiscal years.  Major program activities include:  90 new preschool spaces for children ages 3-5, the In-Home School Readiness Program to serve 100 children ages 0-5 and their parents annually, Kindergarten Transition Program to assist 80 children ages 4-5 and their parents to increase children's preparedness to achieve California State Kindergarten Standards,  Pre-Kindergarten Academy to provide a developmentally appropriate structured, preschool learning environment that will be conducted 4 days per week, 3 hours per day for 50 weeks, the Healthy Start has an on-site physician, counselor, dentist, case manager, and parenting education, the Motheread/Fatheread literacy program will  serve 240 new children ages 0-5 and 240 parents annually, comprehensive assessments, case management and information and linkages will be provided, children will be provided health screenings, immunizations, dental, hearing and vision screening, nutrition education, and medical treatment, childcare providers to attend classes offered by East Los Angeles Community Collaborative Committee will meet quarterly to plan, coordinate, implement and evaluate School Readiness needs and activities in the target area and the Community Collaborative Committee will be comprised of parents of children ages 0-5, and the primary collaborating partners will meet quarterly to plan and coordinate services.